IT Employment

General discussion

Tender Ethics

It's highly desireable to capture in writing the original intent of a request for tender and have it followed through to the tender evaluation process. If the original intent is seen to change during the selection process of a preferred tenderer, how is this best managed to maintain the original intent?

I've been through this. Actually it was done using Adobe documentation that the author would just add comments to in order to keeo the proposal no track to their specofics.

Two vendors FAILED to comply to the standards requested and were simply excluded from the process from that point onward.

If an RFP has been replied to and it is not in accordance wit hthe guidelines, highlight the areas ignored or overseen and insist they are adhered to. THEN if the proposal is not inline with the request, turf that vendor.

Change your tender? If I was to be really ****, I'd say, start the process again....

In reality, these things happen. I would treat a change in intent the same way I treat a change in the scope of a project.

If there is to be a change, it should involve all of the stakeholders - the sponsor, the management of affected teams - the people who had input into the original tender. The proposed change should be in writing, and it should be agreed to/approved by all parties. Once the stakeholders agree, you have to inform the bidders, again in writing. They should have the option of dropping out, or modifying their bid, and they should have a "reasonable" amount of time to make that decision and/or modify their bid.

You can see why changes should be avoided as much as possible.

I can infer from your short note that its one of the tenderers that is influencing the change. This is to be avoided, obviously, as it isn't fair or ethical. If the tenderer is pointing out gaps in your RFP that you need to fill for the "real" needs of your business thats one thing. If they are simply trying to steer the process to eliminate their competitors, thats wrong and unethical. It can be a challenge to sort this out. Don't be the one to do this on your own - let all of the stakeholders get involved.

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